BBCAfter petting a carriage horse in New York’s Central Park at the age of five, Alexus Lawson was hooked.
She has driven a carriage in Manhattan’s most famous park, pulled by her horses, for six years. But since Lawson heard about the city’s vote this week to outlaw the carriages over animal and public-safety concerns, she has been worried.
“What am I supposed to do with my horse?” asked the 28-year-old about her current horse, Starlight. “You’re going to tell me I can’t work with her anymore? How am I supposed to ensure her health?”
Lawson is one of roughly 200 horse-drawn carriage drivers in Central Park. Use of the carriages has been an at-times controversial tradition for over 160 years that has become a popular tourist activity.
But several drivers who spoke to the BBC said they did not want new jobs, and disputed claims their horses are mistreated – even as many New Yorkers and tourists welcomed the ban.
“There were a few cases of horses dying in the middle of the park. You can clearly see that they’re not taken care of,” said New York resident Ron Tsur. “That’s not what they’re supposed to be doing.”
Since 1982, 40 horses working in Central Park have died, according to the Manhattan Borough President’s office, which blames issues including overheating and collisions.
New York leaders previously sought a ban, under pressure from animal-rights activists, but faced pushback from city council members and unions representing the workers.
But the ban movement found new momentum this summer.
In June, Romanch Mahajan, a tourist visiting New York with his family from India, was in a carriage when the horse bolted, causing the 18-year-old to fall out and die. The planned ban – named Romanch’s Law after the teen – also follows the death this year of a carriage horse, Deniz, who ate a toxic plant in Central Park.
‘Horses are working animals’
Several Central Park horse carriage drivers who spoke to the BBC said they were devoted to their horses and that the rides did not pose a safety risk.
Lawson, who was nearby on the day Mahajan fell to his death, called the deadly incident “extremely tragic”. But she said if the city was really worried about the safety of the horse-drawn carriages, it would outlaw them immediately – not in two years.
The Central Park Conservancy, the non-profit organisation that manages Central Park and supports the carriage ban, said that over the past 13 months alone, there had been seven “horse-related incidents”. In May, a driver was taken to the hospital after a spooked horse hit another carriage, causing it to tip over. In January, another horse, named Destiny, ran into traffic near the park, causing a multi-car collision.
Lawson, who owns six horses, pointed out that New York City carriages were the most regulated in the country and said horses enjoyed the stimulation.
“They look at an animal in harness and they see a trap,” Lawson said of officials pushing for the ban. “They see a job as something that’s terrible. Horses are working animals.”
Medet Fidan, a carriage driver for 12 years, feels similarly attached to his horse, calling allegations of mistreatment a joke.
“I spend more time with my horses than my wife and my kids,” he said. “They’re telling me I’m abusing my horse? No way.”
Fidan said he was angry, and that officials were passing a ban without talking in-person to drivers and others in the industry. “If you don’t listen to me, how can you come and kill my business, destroy my family’s, my livelihood?” he asked.
The city council held a hearing in July, inviting community members, including horse-carriage drivers, to comment.
The legislation to end horse-drawn carriages proposes an “industry transition framework” including potential job placement, training, career counselling, and financial compensation for those in the business.
A spokesperson for Mamdani said his office was involved in planning to find new jobs for these workers – who make around $60,000 (£ 44,000) to $70,000 a year, according to drivers who spoke at the city council hearing.
But the Transport Workers Union, which represents the drivers, said the plan did not include guarantees – including compensation – and that the workers would be “economically wiped out”.
The union also raised concerns about a lack of funding for individuals and organisations who eventually take in the horses. It argued that thousands end up at slaughter auctions each year.
The bill forbids selling horses for slaughter or for similar work.
‘Confining for the horses’
Though carriage drivers say they are committed to the health of their horses, concerns over the animals’ well-being have been raised in the city for decades.
The carriages have been opposed by animal-rights groups, including one that was founded in response to New York’s industry. In 1866, after Henry Bergh witnessed the brutal beating of a carriage horse, he established the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to protest horses’ treatment and other instances of animal abuse.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) and a coalition of organisations supporting the horse-carriage ban also oppose the carriages.
Horses can work up to nine hours a day. They are currently restricted to certain entrances of the park, where they stand and wait with drivers to be hired. Customers pay $72.22 for a 20-minute ride, plus $28.89 for every extra ten minutes.
Vanessa Stolle, a German tourist, said she and her family had horses at home – and that they do not belong in a noisy park pulling passengers.
“To stand the whole day here – it’s loud for them and they can’t go to the countryside,” she said.
A fellow German tourist, Christian Bauers, disagreed. He remembered seeing the horses when he came to Central Park 20 years ago. “It’s part of the culture of New York,” he said. “Let them stay. It’s cute.”
Jeanne Collopy is an animal lover from Colorado, where horses run wild, she said. She worries about accidents in the park that have harmed humans and horses.
“I know there’s a union and I hate to have people out of work,” she said, adding: “It’s a little bit confining for the horses.”
Her husband, Chris Koenigs, said the animals were “wonderful” to look at. But the death of the teenager this summer was “sickening”, and a high price to pay for enjoying the horses, he said.
“The park is magnificent,” he added. “I can’t help but think, it would be a magnificent park with or without the carriages.”
